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How to Defend Yourself

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( 166 ratings, 42 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
How to Defend Yourself by Liliana Padilla is a powerful play about seven college students who attend a DIY self-defense workshop following a sorority sister's rape. Through physical training and emotional exploration, they confront the complexities of desire, trauma, and healing in the face of pervasive violence. The play critically examines what it means to seek safety and belonging within a culture shaped by rape and aggression.
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Format: Paperback / softback
$4799
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This play resonates strongly with readers interested in contemporary social issues, particularly those concerning gender, trauma, and empowerment. It is especially suitable for audiences engaged with arts and culture, theatre, and discussions around societal violence and healing.

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A Yale Drama Series-winning play about self-defense, desire, and healing in the aftermath of a college rape.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

How to Defend Yourself is a Yale Drama Series-winning play about self-defence, desire, and healing in the aftermath of a college rape.

Seven college students gather for a DIY self-defence workshop after a sorority sister is raped. They practise using their bodies as weapons. They wrestle with their desires. They learn the limits of self-defence.

This new play by writer, director, actor, and community builder Liliana Padilla explores the intersection of sex, community, and what it means to heal in a violent world. Padilla shows how learning self-defence becomes a channel for these college students’ rage, anxiety, confusion, trauma, and desire. The play examines what one wants, how to ask for it, and the ways rape culture threatens one’s body and sense of belonging.

It is the thirteenth winner of the Yale Drama Series prize and the second one chosen by Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright Ayad Akhtar.

Series: Yale Drama Series

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Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

"How to Defend Yourself" has been praised as a fiercely honest and original work. Ayad Akhtar highlights Padilla's skill in exploring the inner lives and identities shaped by absence and trauma. Naomi Iizuka commends its raw examination of living in a violent society and the path to healing, while director Rachel Chavkin lauds its sharp insights into race, class, and gender, describing it as a breathtaking and intelligent debut.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780300251593

Publisher: Yale University Press

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 27 October 2020

Country: United States

Imprint: Yale University Press

Contributors:

  • Foreword by Ayad Akhtar

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 11.0mm

Width: 140.0mm

Height: 229.0mm

Weight: 250g

Pages: 160

About the Author

Liliana Padilla makes stories about belonging, healing, and transformation. How to Defend Yourself premiered at the Humana Festival and Victory Gardens Theatre and was a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Liliana received an MFA in playwriting from UC San Diego.

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